Northumberland RFU - News

By Northumberland RFU
May 16 2020

Writing about rugby at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is still at its peak in the UK and close to home the tally of reported cases in Northumberland exceeds 800 might seem frivolous and perhaps even inappropriate. But that would not recognise the role our clubs play across the county serving their local communities, providing a living for players, coaches and support staff in the professional game and countless other hospitality full and part-time personnel serving our 20 or so amateur clubs, not to mention those employed in schools, colleges, universities and the RFU working in rugby. Stories abound locally of the numerous activities and gestures large and small made by players and club members seeking to help those most at risk and to offer help where they can to NHS and other essential service personnel. What will become of our clubs and the shape of rugby union in the County after this tumultuous 140th year of its existence is impossible to predict. For its part, the Northumberland Rugby Union and the RFU have between them made cash payments to our clubs of almost £94,000 since the lockdown began in March. Additionally, there have been pre-existing loan repayment holidays for four clubs making a total value of financial support £106,258 (cash & deferred payments) all disbursed at very short notice. Advice and support from experienced fund raisers on the board of directors is readily available and a further emergency fund of £5,000 has been ring-fenced for future club emergencies. This, together with any donations received will form the basis of a hardship fund available to help save some of our clubs at very real risk of not surviving this crisis. Read More in the Newsletter....

NRFU NEWSLETTER - LOCKDOWN EDITION

Please have a read of our latest NRU Newsletter, which is a special lockdown edition highlighting some of the great work and community spirit on display within the rugby community in Northumberland. Happy reading ...

RFU SURVEY - PLEASE TAKE PART

We have highlighted the preparations taking place to reboot rugby when the time is right and, as part of this activity, we are asking the rugby community to take part in a survey, which you will find below. All our plans will be linked to the government’s social distancing guidelines, which were updated this week.

We want to be prepared to get rugby back up and running when government guidance allows, and it is safe to do so. A great deal of work has been undertaken in recent weeks to establish protocols around a safe return to training and ultimately competition.

As part of our preparations, we are conducting a short survey across the rugby community and we would appreciate your views, as well as those of your members, to help shape and guide our plans. We would like to ensure that our plans align with the sentiment in the rugby community and that rugby restarts at a time when there is a will and desire to have it played again.

This survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and your thoughts will be invaluable to us over the coming weeks. Please share with your members too.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net